Review of Vampire Lovers, The

Introduction

After Dracula and Frankenstein, Hammer Films` third great horror franchise was Sheridan LeFanu`s Carmilla. Carmilla Karnstein was a lesbian vampire who infiltrated noble households and finishing schools to turn not-so-innocent young virgins into even-less-innocent vampirettes. Played in this first film by Ingrid Pitt (forever to be associated with this kind of part) Carmilla sinks her fangs into Kate O`Mara and has her sights set on the bountiful Maddie Smith before inevitably crossing paths with Peter Cushing (what, like that`s a surprise??)

Carmilla was to return in two sequels - Lust For A Vampire and Twins of Evil, played by Yutte Stensgaard and Katya Keith. Before anybody "ah, but"`s me, the character Ingrid Pitt played in Countess Dracula wasn`t Carmilla, it was Countess Elisabeth Nadasdy, so there.

Video

Hammer`s first and only co-production with American International (Roger Corman`s distributors), it is obvious that the print this was made from is the slightly shorter 88 minute US version rather than the 91 minute British cut. The picture suffers from age and damage, and most unforgivable of all is that it`s a 1.33:1 pan and scan edition. Some motion artefacts are also visible on dark scenes.

Audio

Although the soundtrack is described on the packaging as "Stereo", this is a plain mono mix fed to the left and right speakers.

Features

Extras - none whatsoever

Conclusion

This was strong stuff for its time, studded with boobs (mostly Maddie Smith`s) and splattered with Technicolor blood. Hammer Films enjoyed a notoriety at the time that seems strange in this age of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the Dusk To Dawn movies. Today the movie exudes cosiness rather than terror and a careless transfer makes it less than a must-have example of the Hammer art.